on her way out

sad to say, but i'm going to be selling my baby raimi soon :( just too hard right now with such low income, time, and no garage/driveway. i bought a pickup truck from my friend ('91, v6) earlier this week so i'll do some last jobs on raimi and put 'er up for sale...*sigh* it's been a great two years wtih my baby, but it's time to move on. in a few years i'll have money again (at least that's the plan) and i'll probably buy an even older camaro :) first generation was my first love, of course.

in the meantime, i recently changed her front brake pads. after doing the rear adjustment (adjustment nut wasn't adjusting automatically) the brakes really improved but i could hear the front discs squealing so i changed those. mad improvement, i'm psyched.

she runs good. she looks okay. rusted in the usual spots, i tried to fix them but fixes only lasted about a year before they rusted again. some FUCKER hit my mirror two nights ago, too. i think it was a biker 'cause there were a few small scratches on the front fender as well and i figure a car would'a done much worse. god that pisses me off. so now my mirror points at the sky...great. gotta bang that one out...

anyone want a bitchin' camaro?

*sigh*

sticky

holy shit, i LOVE these fuckin' tires. 255/60/r15 (rear) firestone firehawk indy 500's. fuckin' things are sticky man, i love it. i can fly around a turn popping the clutch in first gear and they won't even whimper much less slide. AMAZING.

also helps to have working brakes, haha.

and i think my gas mileage has improved, too.

good investment.

pick pocketed through the right nostril

goddamn, i just spent $500 today.

$330 on two new tires (TWO!)
$180 on a year's worth of contacts (but hell my last "year's supply" lasted 3...oops)

tires are glorious, though. can't even make her skid around a corner in the rain, lol. of course that could have something to do with my front brakes locking up....fuckall.

haven't tried the contacts yet, the ones i'm wearing right now are actually weak in the left eye so tomorrow should shed new light on the world. yay.


so this is why i work....

shit

i think my front brakes are locking up now...wtf!?

felt really...strained on the gas pedal. got home and felt the back brakes (drums)...warm...front brakes (discs), burned me.

arggg

free fix!

but only because my time is next to worthless :)

i think i fixed my brakes! we'll see tomorrow, though. but at least for the test drive this afternoon she was BEEEAAAAAUUUUTIFUL. nice and stiff, even the parking break is improved. before you had to really mash the parking brake down...like pushing off the seat back to get it tight enough to hold on a hill...kinda scary, but not when you consider the reverse lockout. to get the key out of my car there's a safety and anti-theft mechanism that locks the transmission in reverse and the steering wheel wherever you leave it. what that means is, in terms of rolling, it's not just the parking brake that's holding the car steady, but the transmission as well. if you've ever tried to manually turn an engine via crankshaft...it's a BITCH...and going backwards through the drivetrain would have even less leverage. it's not necessarily a brake, but it is a whole lot of inertia that requires momentum to get moving...momentum it'd never get with the parking brake on, even if it's not completely tight.

eeeeeither way, i came home early today ready to tear into that shit. i feared one or two of three things. first, i feared that my rear drum brake shoes were worn out...easy fix, maybe $60. second, i feared that my rear drum cylinder's were dead (the thing that actually transmits your foot power to the brake shoes). i don't know how much one'a those cost but it would be a bitch 'cause you gotta rebleed the system, which i did two days ago. bleeding it actually tightened the brakes a little...for...a day. still a pain in the ass. the last problem i suspected was the master cylinder and the power booster...basically the thing that multiplies your foot pressure on the pedal into a much higher force stopping 3400 lbs. of rolling metal.

i do know my master cylinder has a slow leak...unfortunately that leak COULD go into my power booster and be slowly eating away at my diaphram there (meaning power brakes go kaput). hope that's not the case 'cause those two pieces would prolly run about $140 (and a royal pain in the ass). i'll have to do it someday, but didn't want it to be today.

soooo opened up the drums in the back...and low and behold, my shoes have LOTSA life left in them. yippy. also...my cylinders were not leaking. rubber seals looked very healthy. of course the fact that those two didn't seem too bad made me scared that it was the expensive option #3 (MC and booster). but, taking a closer look i noticed that with the drum on and looking through the tiniest little check hole, the shoes were really far out of adjustment. so with a slipjoint and a screwdriver i adjusted the star wheel to put it back into specs and VOILA! my pedal travels about half what it used to, with SO much more power, and my parking break finally feels like it'll actually hold my goddamn car. they're supposed to be self adjusting but i think they got crudded up and froze. so i sprayed the shit out of 'em with brake cleaner...i hope they'll adjust now.

let's hope there's no more news on this issue :)

next on the list is some goddamn tires. my treads are almost gone on one of my rear tires...great thing to have on a car with a 350 V8, no?

*screeeeeech*

grinding metal

hahahahahahahahahahahahah! my fuckin' tailpipe fell off a few days ago. lucky for me it was in a parking lot and not the freeway. intersting *shrugs*.

either way i was kinda late for a meeting....pulled over after hearing something go clunk and start dragging....pulled over and checked it out...tailpipe fell off where it connects to the muffler and it was hanging by the hangers. being late, i grabbed a rope from my trunk and tied the bitch up...lol. got me home at least (after my meeting).

got under there with a light at home and it turns out to be perfectly fine. the U bolt just got loose and fell off for some reason *shrugs*. when i'd originally checked it out at dusk with no light, i'd thought it rusted off. not the case. so slid it back on, tightened the shit out of it, good as new.

i love raimi.

meanwhile my brakes are...um....not working correctly : ) they work, don't get me wrong, but they're getting really weak. i'm hoping it's just pads but it could be a hydraulic problem (cylinder, booster, blah blah). fuck. that could be...not cheap.


it goes.

green stuff

last night i attacked the thermostat. replaced it with a new one and filed the hell out of the couple on the intake manifold (it's aluminum...soft...and after cleaning it i could see how scored and scratched and actually sloping it was) and the thermostat housing. they were both horribly crooked which definitely contributed to it leaking constantly. initially tried the foam gasket they gave me...that thing didn't even hold when i filled up the radiator again, piece of shit.

so i used RTV silicon instead....which is supposed to dry for 24 hours but i only gave it about 14...had to go to school ;) she seems to be holding...but i didn't tighten my rad hose tight enough, haha....dumb. so that was gushing a litle after i parked up a big hill...should be okay, though. comin' home it didn't even leak and i hadn't had a chance to tighten it yet. should be good now. heat's much more tame with the new sparkies anyway.

also readjusted my clutch. wasn't releasing completely...

AND drained that extra pint of oil. don'tkow if it makes a difference but i've been noticing that my PCV valve has an oil slick on it...i'm wondering if it's sucking up oil into the carb...that would explain the black smoke. but why now? i hope my valves aren't squirting too much...i hate adjusting those. last time i actually got oil in my mouth AND eye because (first time) i initially made them too tight. hydraulic lifts can REALLY SQUIRT if you give 'em enough pressure...man what a mess. could be my problem, although i can't imagine how that would happen.

meanwhile she's got a helluva lot more power these days. rough heating up...but it's been cold. i do have the choke wired wide open.

fun.

vroom!

she lives! whole lot more life in my baby, very happy about that.

not 100% at all, but at least it feels like i'm igniting something now. the gas vapor smell has decreased a whole lot but it's still there. i'm wondering if i set my mixture richer when i had the timing retarded more (used to run 12-14 BTDC when she was happier). i have 'er at 10 degrees now. i'm gonna try do a real mixture setting with the vacuum gauge when i get more time during the day. oh, and still has black smoke, but only at HIGH throttle...like...4-5k rpm. i'm wondering if it disappears under load or gets worse...i can't see anything out my rear mirrors, though, so could be good.

and i realized that i overfilled my oil as well..i just dumped a quart in and it's about a half inch over 'full'...oops. i'll drain some.

and my radiator is leaking at the thermostat housing AGAIN. that bitch never seals. decided to do it right and got a new rad cap and thermostat. she's overheated a few times, maybe the springs are hardened. i put the rad cap on and it seems to have improved...i'll do that thermostat tomorrow most likely. good feeling about it, though. high pressure in there (stiff rad cap) could also possibly have fouled my head gasket...hot steam is powerful shit.

oh, and i realized i should've done compression tests while i had the spark plugs out. SHIT! i'll do that too. give me a chance to check the status of my new plugs, too. damn i have a lotta work to do.

one tire is nearly bald.

my breaks are acting funny (sometimes squish and need some "pumping")

my front a-arm bushing is really fucked up now (if it's even there)

exhaust manifold crack was bandaided with some exhaust repair shit. that burned off in two weeks. i think i just might attempt to pull it out and weld it...muahaha.


lotsa work.

and no money for parts.

yay.

fired

been a long time since i updated raimi's blog, but that's because i've left her rather neglected lately :( poor girl. but hell, now that i don't have a real girlfriend, my raimi's back on the top of my list.

so about a week and a half ago i ran'er outa' gas again...and she started behaving oddly...losing power and such. then came a week of heavy, heavy rain and she was REALLY angry then. my idle dropped about 100 rpm at startup (returned to normal once she heated up) and she was hard to start. often two tries. stalling often when i wouldn't give'er enough gas shifting (which used to be enough gas)...and for the first time in my year and a half with her, smoke out the exhaust. light, but black. fearing the head gaskets...aaand i finally got some time to take a look this week.

checked the timing and she was off the timing plate to i'm guessing about 14-16 BTDC...last time i set'er i think i had put it at 10 degrees. curious...decided to try following the chilton's recommendation of 6 degrees...which i thought was too tame but tried it. idled MUCH better, MUCH smoother, started up better and that startup drop of the idle rpm improved (but still not correct). smoke got a little better but now (so my mom says) there's white AND black smoke. could be too advanced. of course, lost most acceleration around 3-3.5k rpm. bottom end was weak as well (weaker than before retiming). all in all, weaker but sounding happier. decided the plugs might be fucked up...could explain the extra retarding (slow spark) as well as the smoke. hadn't touched the idle mixture yet but smelled STRONG gasoline fumes during driving...could be explained by incomplete combustion.

so i just changed the spark plugs (needed a cold car) and as it's 11pm i don't think my neighbor's would appreciate me tuning the beast right now...but i did take her for a spin. at 6 degrees BTDC i wasn't expecting much...but on startup, she idled higher than previous...no real power until around 1.5-2k rpm....and disappears around 3-3.5k still...BUT, much smoother, and little or no smell of gasoline (but still something odd burning, hoping timing/mixture tuning will do the trick).

little note, the old plugs were in decent shape. no severe detonations or shorts and they weren't too worn. a few had some cakey porous looking stuff deposited on the porcelain right below the electrode...most had flakey white stuff (which i think is a lean condition, i have to look it up again), and 3 had oil one threads...but no oil and minimal black soot on the electrode/ground post. still pretty sharp edges (not too worn) and held their gap correctly. besides the oily treads and that weird cakey stuff (hoping it's not radiator fluid residue)...they looked okay. head gasket might by leaky, but it's not BLOWN...oh and i did check the oil under the valve covers and there wasn't any milk (no water in the oil).

i have a good feeling about it...but getting up early tomorrow morning to tune'er up and see what's up. next is the distributor, spark wires, and coil. i REALLY don't wanna do the heads.


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